A CHASTENED Scott Morrison today apologised for &quot;insensitive and inappropriate&quot; comments on the funerals of asylum seekers killed in December's boat tragedy.

The Liberal immigration spokesman said it was not "the time and the place" to raise the issue of federal Government funding of travel expenses for 21 relatives from Christmas Island to Sydney.

His apology for the timing of his remarks will help mend divisions within the Liberal Party over his hardline approach, which was directly rejected yesterday by shadow treasurer Joe Hockey.

On Tuesday, just before the start of the Muslim and Christian ceremonies for eight boat people - attended by close relatives including an eight-year-old orphaned boy - Mr Morrison said payment of the travel expenses was not responsible spending.

Today he said he had stepped over the mark, but vowed he would not stop holding the Government accountable for the rising cost of looking after asylum seekers.

Mr Morrison told 2GB "the timing of my comments over the last 24 hours was insensitive and was inappropriate".

"I know probably more than anyone how strongly people feel about this issue, how angry they get about the costs that are involved and I share that anger and I want to see that changed," he said.

"But there is a time and a place.

"I rarely leave things on the field when it comes to this issue...but if you step over the mark I think you have got to say so and I am prepared to do that.

"But the government shouldn't take that as a leave pass."

He said: "Yesterday I didn't seek to say that people should not be able to attend a funeral for their families.

"I made the suggestion it should have been held on Christmas Island, that wasn't the time to make that comment. I accept that and we can move on."

The cost of the charter flight from Christmas Island to Sydney was around $300,000, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said today.

He said it was a significant sum of money but the Government would provide a full accounting when it was available.

"And look, there are costs associated with this: a charter from Christmas Island which is the only way to do it - it's a long way from the mainland - would cost for this number of people about $300,000," he told ABC-TV.

"I recognise that's a significant amount of money.

"But as I say, the alternative is to be quite harsh with people and say, 'We wont let you attend the funerals of your loved ones'.

"Or, 'We insist on holding the funerals somewhere where you will not be able to keep in contact with somebody who's been very close to you'.

"And I don't think that's something which, at the end of the day, would be fair or sustainable."

Tony Abbott congratulated Mr Morrison for being "man enough" and having "the guts" to make the apology.

He said Mr Morrison had gone "a little bit too far".

Joe Hockey also appeared to relent, and said Mr Morrison was right to ask why the funerals were not held on Christmas Island.

"It's right for an Opposition spokesman to ask the question," he said.

"I think the issue here is firstly, why are the funerals being held in Sydney? And that is unanswered."

However, it is unlikely the Government will allow Mr Morrison or Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who did not contradict his shadow minister yesterday, to move on.

"Stealing sound bites from One Nation is about as low as you can go, and that's where Tony Abbott has ended up," Treasurer Wayne Swan said today.

"I think this whole episode raises important questions about the Leader of the Opposition's judgment, or lack of it.

"It doesn't matter whether you're talking about economic policy or whether you're talking about social policy, the Liberal Party are internally divided, they're at each other's throats.

"You see it in the parliament all of the time and you see it in public now."

Parliamentary secretary David Bradbury said Mr Abbott's position was "a shameful low" and praised Coalition MPs who had disagreed with Mr Morrison.

"But they must be very concerned about the direction their party's going," said the Sydney Labor MP.

Opposition frontbencher Bruce Bilson rejected claims of a Liberal split, saying: "I'm not sure the division is as some would portray it."